Newbie - where to buy, PCI card or Firewire?

[c0burn]

Hello,

I have a Eurovox currently but interested in getting rid and getting a PC based solution (more futureproof, 1 less box in the house, etc). I also want to get the HD channels and can't be ****ed buying a new Eurovox/etc that does HD.

If I was to go the PCI Card route, Where's the best place to buy a PCI card? What one do you recommend? Can't see anywhere to buy a Technotrend card but I'm not sure where to look.

If I went with a FloppyDTV, what CAM/Card would I need and what software? Would I be able to program a card from scratch or would I need to clone and modify a valid subscriber card? WHere would I buy this stuff from?

Cheers guys. I know a lot of this is dotted about the forum but I'm mainly looking for the "latest and greatest" info and what the "best" current solution is.

Thanks!

[Confused Stu]

Quick and rough I'm afraid as in the middle of something else:

Technotrend C1501 is a PCI card, works well in DVBDream, ProgDVB, etc but NOT Media Centre (even with the add-on CI slot). Doesn't seem to play nicely with Vista 64 in my experience, but is fine on 32 bit. Bought mine from DVBShop in Germany.

FloppyDTVs are the best, but have a price to match. Work fine in Vista 32/64 and W7 64 (haven't tried W7 32 personally, but assume they'd be fine). They're actually firewire connected and just use the slot as somewhere to sit, so can be put in a PCI, PCI-e or any slot type. Bought mine from kustompcs.co.uk in Scotland.

CAM wise, you can use an Icecrypt or a Blue Zeta, but it will need to have Joker 0.79 or 0.80 flashed on it. Some newer Blue Zetas have a track cut to prevent flashing, there's a thread somewhere with instructions for fixing the track and hence flashing them. Unless you can get the cards pre-flashed, you'll need a CAS3 to program them, and it must come with the JTAG attachment (they do when new).

As for a card, most people use a Funcard or similar and write on the files needed, they're easy to find and modify. You'll need a card programmer - Infinity USBs ar justifiably popular, but the CAS3 can flash cards too, so might kill two birds with one stone there.

Hope that helps a little, and sorry if it seems a bit brusk or rude, just in the middle of fiddling with codecs at the mo.

[reeves2k2]

most people on here would say got the floppy dtv route which can be slightly more expensive in initial startup costs but is the simplest to set up

you can lok on ebay for them but dont often come up but can get them from digital everyere who make them and the support from them seems good

cam wise you could go with the icecrypt or blue zeta programmed with either joker .79 or .80 firmware. You used to be able to buy the blue zeta cam pre flashed with the joker .79 firmware but not sure if you still can hi-sat used to bt stopped for legal reasons , which leaves you with 2 options ether to buy a CAS3 programmer and diy or te blue zeta can bee flashed using a funcard

card wise ou dont need to modify a original sub card you can use a fun card 3,4 or 5 and program it fm scratch with a bt of searchin on this forum and a suitable card programmer its quite simple.

all this info is assuming you will be using windows media center in either vista or mce 2005 if not then the technotrend would be suitable with a soft cam like vplug or similar

[reeves2k2]

beat me to it stu lol

[Confused Stu]

Originally Posted by reeves2k2

beat me to it stu lol

Yeah, but you remembered to mention vplug, which Funcard versions work, and that Digital-Everywhere also supply the cards. Proof positive that thorough is better than quick!

[radoman]

Floppydtvs, cams, cards and programmers are cool but all that stuff is expensive. I think there somthing to be said about a dvblink setup. My my 7mc setup is pretty solid and all i needed was a c1501.

[Oxyg3n]

Yes it is entirely possible setting up that way, but... be prepared to spend a few weeks/months refining your setup.

You will run a backend program (eg. DVBViewer, DVBDream) and DVBLink provides a Virtual Card link to WMC, essentially its a program to control a program.

But, in essence, yes it is possible to go the cheaper option, but i warn you, you will probably get annoyed and want to spend the money in doing a fully-fledged setup without all the software (too many things can go wrong)

[varnez]

I'm looking to route cable tv thru my htpc also. For the short term tho, is it possible to route a Krypeview box thru my htpc?

[reeves2k2]

yes it is you will need a suitable capture card and a s-video convertor! (not that cheap) you will need to set mce up for cable and will need the virtual mce blaster driver to fool mce into thinking you have a media center remote

be warned the picture quality from a setup this way can be very poor

i had it this way for all of a month before the pq annoyed me that much i had to change it

[htpcman]

Originally Posted by Oxyg3n

Yes it is entirely possible setting up that way, but... be prepared to spend a few weeks/months refining your setup.

You will run a backend program (eg. DVBViewer, DVBDream) and DVBLink provides a Virtual Card link to WMC, essentially its a program to control a program.

But, in essence, yes it is possible to go the cheaper option, but i warn you, you will probably get annoyed and want to spend the money in doing a fully-fledged setup without all the software (too many things can go wrong)

Personally I'm not sure that is the case, back in the days of dvbsbridge I agree it was a real pain to setup and it wasn't the most stable of platforms, but I've been using dvblink on 7MC for a good few months without any problems at all.

The setup process is pretty slick with dvblink - the channel synchronisation works really well and needs very little manually tinkering, and with tools available like guidetool to help it couldn't be easier.

That said i guess it's down to whatever you're most comfortable with - me I'm a proggie so quite comfortable tinkering with software etc. others probably come from the hacked STB route so used to using cards, etc. Horses for courses

EDIT - Doh perhaps i should read all of my unread posts before replying